Online map services enable users to explore maps, locate points of interest, plan trips, obtain driving directions, and view real-time driving conditions. In addition, several web-based mapping services also provide 360-degree street-level panoramas that users can view and navigate.
The images used to create the panoramas are captured, for example, by mounting specially-designed cameras onto vehicles. Each camera may include multiple lenses to record an environment from a full 360-degree perspective while the vehicle moves along a roadway. The recorded imagery is then used to create the panoramas, which enable users to virtually explore a geographic location using a web browser.
In addition, smartphones equipped with one or more high-quality digital cameras, GPS, abundant storage space, and mobile broadband have become common throughout the world. These powerful devices enable users to easily capture and distribute photographs and video content, and have contributed to the surge of shared imagery available on the internet.
Many of the available images include location information, such as latitude and longitude, which allow an image to be associated with maps and other geolocated imagery.